I have swapped in the 180 stat that I have been reworking. It works but I made an error by not recording the position of the temperature gauge before the change.

My sensor now shows middle scale to 1/2 'notch' below middle on the gauge. This is with the weather at 75 degrees and several short hard runs on it. The infrared thermometer I used shows that the outlet radiator hose is about 180 degrees.

Wish I remembered to note the reading before I got all involved with the change.

What does your temp sensor read normally, thank you and enjoy, Woody

 

Mine reads just slightly below the half way mark on the gage all the time while driving.
It occasionally creeps a little above when in heavy traffic on a 90 degree day. I don't think these other thermostats make much difference although I don't have one. It just seems that the posts on this subject don't show any change in the position of the temp gage.

 

My gauge reads 1/2 or slightly below. I live in FL and even during summer driving it has never gone above 1/2.

Jim

 

That is too high for going through the trouble for a swap. Should only be around 1/4 to 1/3rd up from the bottom or cold position. Most read a needle or two width below half way with the stock stat.

Steve

 

My needle commonly resides just ABOVE the 1/2 way point.

 

In stop and go traffic and during hard running, mine always is about a needle width above the 1/2 (middle) mark. I put 2 bottles of Water Wetter in the system and that def. helps it cool down quicker and runs cooler during normal driving, but it still creeps up there when I am "having fun"

 

My daily driver stays about like this (here in sunny FL), but once I get out on the highway (and get back into "normal" drive mode), it quickly drops to the needle-width below.

 

So here's a question - what temperature is the engine coolant temperature measuring?

The temperature of the coolant in the engine...

or the temperature of the coolant in the radiator?

 

My question is why did you go with a 180 t-stat, why not go for a 160 t-stat thats the number most of the guys who do t-stat swap go with.

 

It reads the temperature of the coolant in the engine

 

mine reads just a needle notch above 1/2 sitting in traffic, 81 degrees outside

 

Well then, the problem is obvious - the radiator fan must spin longer and/or the radiator must increase in size.

 

Thanks for the responses so far. I wanted to go conservative on the first pass. The modification is easily done using the Stant stats as there is a series that fits the housing with minimal changes.

I did not go to 160 because I believe that it may be too cold for the computer, LET Jerry possibly will fill in for me here.

Stant stats ( that I chose ) are listed in their book as follows:

13006 160
13007 170
13008 180
13009 190 all in degrees F.

Since they are physically the same you can pick and choose for your personal choice. I will be doing 2 days of autocrossing and after all the big pieces come back without distress Ill release my approach and photos.

I want to be my own test subject first under full power testing conditions. I will also be able to report on the bigger H/E and LET 181 pulley upgrade as I did them this past weekend along with 4 HID lamps that were also installed during the same Thash.....

Enjoy;
Woody